how to win friends and influence people

I’ve been in the new place for a couple of weeks now, and I’m getting used to commuting to work.

Coming home from work is more or less the same, because I would be heading out to circus most evenings anyway (did I mention I now live a four-minute door-to-door walk from the circus school?), but the morning is a whole new ball game.

My apartment building is brand new and behind schedule (because what construction project isn’t?), so they decided to do phased move in. That means that they’re still working on the upper half of the building and the store fronts on the ground floor. That means that I wake up to jackhammering at 7.30 every weekday morning, jump out of bed, (literally – the bedframe is high, the box spring is high, and the mattress is high. My bed is about the height of my ribcage.) and scramble to get ready and head to the skytrain.

On day three of my new commute, there was a fire on the train tracks and they kicked us all off the train to line up for buses to take us – stopping at every station along the way – downtown. The usual 30-minute journey took over two hours.

On the days when there aren’t any official glitches, I’m still getting used to the random people bumping up against me, and trying to hang on to my purse and my lunchbag and something that will keep me upright when the train stops and starts. I’m also trying to convince myself that no one is going to stab me. It’s not really working.

New plan: I will bring cookies to share on the train. People with cookies are happy, and happy people don’t stab other people.

Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies

Ingredients

one cup butter
one cup sugar
one cup brown sugar
two eggs
one teaspoon vanilla
two cups all-purpose flour
one cup bread flour
one teaspoon baking soda
two teaspoons hot water
half teaspoon salt
one and a half cups chocolate chips
one and a half cups mini marshmallows

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet (I use 3 so I can rotate through) with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until combined.
In a small glass or bowl, stir hot water and baking soda. Add to butter mixture along with vanilla, and mix well.
Sift in flours and stir until combined. Fold in chocolate chips and marshmallows.
Scoop by large spoonfuls on the prepared baking sheets – the marshmallows will be a bit of a pain, but don’t worry about them too much.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are browning and the cookies look done.
Eat as many while they’re still warm as possible.